mesbooks Chapter 622: First-Class Duke
Chapter 622: First-Class Duke
While Zhang Shikang was watching his opponent, Huang Taiji was also watching the guards.
Compared with the Ming army that Huang Taiji saw during his last personal expedition, the enemy before him was completely different.
In just two or three years, the Ming army not only had a completely new look in terms of military equipment, but the spirit of the soldiers was also completely changed.
This made Huang Taiji even more convinced that he must kill the bastard Zhang Shikang at all costs in this battle, otherwise if it was delayed for another two years, the Qing Dynasty would have no chance of entering the pass.
The Qing Dynasty could not wait for him for two more years. During these two years, Huang Taiji had been in poor health, severely lacking energy, and easily became sleepy, especially after a meal.
In addition, the patient suffered from chest tightness and shortness of breath, and the Han medical officers were helpless.
Zhang Shikang's method of luring the enemy was very poor. Huang Taiji had fought all his life, so how could he be deceived so easily? He was just taking advantage of the enemy's trick.
He wanted to see what Zhang Shikang relied on. No matter what, he only had 30,000 people.
He had no reason to believe that his army of tens of thousands could not defeat even 30,000 people. After all, they were in the wild. Even if he exchanged two for one, he could barely accept the price.
After all, he doesn't have much time left.
"Merlin, you will lead 20,000 Mongolian bannermen as the vanguard. If you can break through the enemy lines, I will not only raise your banner, but also confer upon you the rank of First Class Duke."
The first troops Huang Taiji sent out were the Eight Banner Mongols, rather than the Eight Banner Han troops of low overall quality, which shows how much he valued the enemy.
Twenty thousand troops against thirty thousand, although the military strength is not superior, the order given by Huang Taiji is not excessive. As the name suggests, the purpose is to disrupt the enemy's formation.
In the past two years, Huang Taiji has been thinking a lot about the Ming Dynasty's fire gun phalanx. He even ordered people to develop a variety of chariots to defend against fire guns.
But time was running out. In order to achieve his goal before the enemy reinforcements arrived, he had no time to cut down trees and build chariots.
However, in this battle, his troops were enough to crush the enemy. As long as Zhang Shikang was killed, everything would be worth it.
If the enemy's formation is disrupted, the power of the muskets cannot be fully exerted. Then the army will just need to press forward, and the musketeers who have lost their fire coverage will be lambs to be slaughtered.
For this reason, the rewards promised by Huang Taiji were extremely generous.
Merlin's eyes lit up when he heard that he was to be conferred the title of First Class Duke. To obtain such a title, one usually had to fight on the battlefield for a lifetime.
And now, it only takes one time to disrupt the formation of the 30,000 enemies in front of him.
"I obey your command and I will not disobey you!" Merlin immediately knelt on the ground and accepted the order. His voice was deep and full of confidence, as if the title of first-class duke was within his grasp.
The other generals around him looked at Merlin with envy. Some of them were even worried about being the first to be named, but now they were secretly regretting it.
"Stand up! Be careful of those strange trenches. Tell the soldiers below that if they achieve merit in this battle, the reward will be double what it was before."
Merlin became more confident after hearing this and excitedly took the order and left.
A quarter of an hour later, Merlin, wearing armor, made the final mobilization of his men.
"Your Majesty has rewarded you twice for your military achievements. This is a rare opportunity for you. If you want to be promoted and get more rewards, you must risk your lives.
Remember, just charge forward and don't retreat. I will charge right along with you. If you dare to retreat, I will kill you."
At this time, the war drums on one side had already sounded. Merlin waved his hand, and 20,000 Mongols rushed towards the Guards camp.
On the other side, Sun Weifan of course saw the enemy troops rushing towards him.
"Pass on my military orders. You must fight close to us and remain calm!"
The Guards' latest musket had an effective range of nearly 120 steps, and due to the improvement of black powder, it was more powerful than the previous Rummit gun.
The reason for fighting at close range is that only in this way can we kill more enemies. After all, the enemy's and ours have at least four to one troops.
He didn't want the enemy to run away when they found they couldn't defeat him, so he had to try his best to lure the Jiannu to take the initiative to attack.
Three hundred steps.
Two hundred steps.
One hundred and twenty steps.
The musket formation of the Guards' Firearms Battalion was filled with a solemn atmosphere. The soldiers in the front row gritted their teeth, held their guns with both hands, and stared at the increasingly approaching Mongolian Tartars.
This is when it becomes clear what an elite unit is. In such a situation, once someone pulls the trigger nervously, other soldiers who are also nervous will follow suit and the entire firing rhythm will immediately become chaotic.
One hundred and twenty steps was the effective range of their muskets, but the bugler at the front side of the phalanx did not issue the order to fire.
One hundred steps.
The bugler tightened the gong in his left hand and held the whistle in his right hand.
Eighty steps.
A bugler from a phalanx glanced at Lieutenant General Xu Wenyuan. Xu Wenyuan had a solemn expression and said nothing.
The order from above was very clear: fifty steps, you can only open fire after fifty steps.
This had never happened in Xu Wenyuan's previous years of combat career, including during training.
Basically, they start shooting as soon as the enemy enters the range, and a distance of fifty steps is already well within the range of the enemy archers.
However, even with such an order, no middle-level generals such as Xu Wenyuan and Wang Jingduo protested.
Just because the Grand Marshal of the Army is here, everyone knows that no matter what, the two deputy marshals will not joke about the life of the Grand Marshal.
Therefore, even though they had never experienced such a situation, everyone calmed down immediately as long as they looked back at Zhang Shikang.
On the other side, Merlin, who was charging forward desperately, was actually completely confused.
When the vanguard troops were a hundred steps away from the enemy, the expected sound of musketry did not emanate, and Merlin couldn't understand why.
At a distance of one hundred steps, an excellent longbowman could cause casualties, but Merlin did not intend to change the military order.
Because once the 20,000-strong army stops, it will be difficult to unify the command again, and the enemy will definitely not let us go without fighting back.
There was only one order, to break through the enemy's formation and disrupt it. For this reason, Merlin decisively gave up long-range shooting. Since the enemy did not open fire, there was no one to blame.
A first-class duke, a first-class duke!
"Charge, charge, charge! Kill them!" Merlin roared excitedly.
Eighty parts.
Sixty parts.
The enemy was right before their eyes. As long as they got close to them, how could the musketeers be a match for the Mongolian infantry?
"Sixty steps." The scouts in charge of keeping watch kept reporting to the commanders of each musket phalanx.
Xu Wenyuan took a deep breath.
"preparation!"
All the phalanx soldiers put aside all distractions, clenched their fingers on the wrenches, and aimed at the ferocious face of the enemy that was already close and visible.
"Fifty steps!"
"Fire!"
……